A fast, efficient and reliable means of communicating data in a multi-user system is desirable for many applications. A need for such methods arises when multiple pieces of data (from multiple sources) need to be quickly read by a receiver. One particular application of such technology is in the electronic identification of multiple items.
The electronic identification industry is important for numerous commercial and military applications, including real-time item tracking and inventory. Such uses can greatly increase operational efficiency in a myriad of scenarios, including virtually all of those involving some form of manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and retail. The ability to quickly and efficiently perform accurate real-time inventory tracking can greatly reduce waste in many forms, including, but not limited to, the misplacement of items, over- or under-stocking of items, and item theft.
Currently, the electronic identification industry relies heavily on manual (light-based) scanning to identify a plurality of items, where each item is assigned a product code. The Universal Product Code (UPC) system is currently in widespread use throughout the United States retail industry. Manually scanning items, however, is extremely time-consuming and highly prone to human error.
Thus, there exists a need to provide a method for fast, efficient and reliable transmission of data from multiple sources to a receiver. More specifically, there exists a need to read such data as quickly as possible for typical use cases in an inventory system. An example of a typical use case of the described system is a real-time inventory application in a store, where the inventory on a shelf typically changes by small increments over time (e.g., a relatively small number of items are removed or added to the shelf in a given time period).